Obama rips into anti-Keystone XL hecklers

Opponents of the Keystone XL pipeline project heckled President Obama during a healthcare speech Wednesday in Boston, repeatedly chanting, "Reject the pipeline."

The group of protesters were among a crowd gathered in Boston's historic Faneuil Hall to hear the president mount a defense of the botched rollout of HealthCare.gov, the insurance enrollment site.

Obama shot back at the shouters.

“That is the wrong rally,” Obama said. “We had the climate change rally back in the summer. This is the healthcare rally!”

The hecklers attempted to interrupt him again further into the speech but didn't interfere with Obama's flow.

Big oil companies have urged the president to approve TransCanda’s Keystone XL pipeline project, which would ship oil from Alberta's oil sands to refineries on the Gulf Coast of Texas.

ADVERTISEMENT

Former White House energy and climate czar Carol Browner recently predicted Obama would ultimately reject construction of the controversial pipeline.

Obama has previously said he would sign off on the project as long as there’s evidence building the pipeline would not worsen climate change.

In March, the State Department said halting the project would do little to slow oil sands output, but the Environmental Protection Agency has said higher rail costs could prevent growth.

An environmental review is now being conducted, after which the departments of Defense, Energy and Homeland Security will have three months to issue comments.

Obama is expected to make a final decision on the pipeline next year. Officials at the State Department, which oversees this move, have said there’s no set timeline for a decision on the pipeline's fate.